Welcome Back to the Land of Living
by passingpassenger
Summary: The flocks finds out that Ari is alive thanks to an experiment of bringing dead people alive in a costal island funded by anonymous corporation. Now it's up to them to bring back Ari in one piece, and one sound mind. Continuation of the original storyline (but just imagine it as alternate dimension) I do not own Maximum Ride Series yada yada.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Ari woke up. He wondered for a split moment how he could open his eyes. He didn't have to wonder for so long. A light overhead blinded his eyes and he cringed away from it-but found that he couldn't move. He turned his head slowly to the left and saw that his hand was bound and hooked to a machine that throbbed in rhythmic thuds. He tested his feet but found that his feet felt heavy as lead, but still bound none the less.

"He's awake."

"Check his vital sign."

"All in order here. No relapse?"

"It seems stable this time."

This time? He wondered. His glared eyes and the head followed every single moves scientist made. He attempted to say something, but his voice came out choked and scratchy. Impossible to make out. All the scientists simply ignored his attempt to speak and carried on their job robotically with purpose.

"He needs sedative. Can't have him go on a rampage like the last time."

At the keen word of sedative, he strained against his bound furiously by twisting and turning, but his effort was futile. Soon, he felt the quick stabbing pain on his arm and his vision grew clouded and hazy. At the corner of his eyes, he saw one of the scientist leaning in with long blond lightly curled hair drooping over her ear.

"Max." He croaked hoarsely with every energy he had left. But the woman slowly shook her head and chuckled in amusement.

"Welcome back to the land of living." The woman whispered with a light tone. Finally, his eyes gave out and his consciousness faded back to nothingness.

* * *

Chapter 1

Max was in a dream. She was aware that she was in a dream, but had a slow creeping chill behind her back that her dream will soon turn into another horrible nightmare. But she was already well too aware of it and knew it wouldn't take her off guard. What do they call this? Lucid dreaming, she thought. It was called Lucid dreaming.

She looked around to figure out where she was but all she could see was glimpse of leaves shining under the weak moonlight. Thick heavy darkness hung onto the shapes of trees. Guess bird eye ability doesn't carry into dreams, she thought. She tiredly squinted her eyes and began to walk toward what she assumed was a tall shape of a building.

Finally, she came out a shade forest and into a light where the building appeared to be a research facility with high securities and electrical fences. She was all too aware of what often happens behind those gates.

Suddenly, all the lights went out and the building was pitched into sudden darkness. Without any light to guide her, Max suddenly froze in her track. She heard a sudden exclamation of shouting on the direction of the right and saw a boy climbing the disabled fences with hunting dogs and guards trailing behind. The boy had a red hair and appeared dishevelled-in the stunted moonlight, the blue eyes glinted with crazed fear and panic. The boy kept running right past Max without noticing her and entered the forest. Max feeling like chasing a white rabbit, ran after the boy with menacing barking and shout of orders behind her back.

Max followed the boy as her instinct screamed at her and thought about how strange the dream was for being so vivid and rea; but at the same time, surreal. She sprinted through the leaves, dived under a fallen tree just before she was about to collide and jumped over a pond of water (thanks to moonlight reflection) following the muddy footprint the boy left behind. She heard the boy huffing for breath closer and closer and soon arrived behind the boy who was hidden in a bush, trying to calm his breath. With the sound of dog barking close by, the boy held his hand to his mouth, trying to not make a single sound.

Max hovered behind the boy, wondering what to do until the boy turned his head around and made eye contact with Max. Max assumed that he was looking behind her and that he didn't really see her but his blue eyes gazing at her felt he was looking at her instead of the surroundings.

On the closer inspection, the boy wasn't a boy, but a teenager. His messy red hair cut and blue eyes made him quite a stand out among the cloud, but he was thin as a bone with thin plain white T-shirt and short hanged to his skin. It was as if he was purposely trying to starve himself. Among the bare skin, Max could see faint bruises, stiches and a barcode on the teen's neck.

Max looked up to meet the kid's eyes again but was met with surprise as it was shining with tears.

"Is that you Max?" The teen barely whispered. HIs voice was thin and weak like a broken flute, but his gaze was hopeful, no longer ridden with fear. Max took a step back in shock. This kid can see her. But wasn't this supposed to be a dream?

"How can you see me? Isn't this a dream?" Max hissed. The teen looked confused. "A dream?" He paused trying to recollect his thought. "So you aren't actually here? Where are you? Are you sleeping right now?" With onset of questions, Max took an automatic defensive stance.

"Who wants to know? First answer me this: who the hell are you?" The teen stared at her with blank expression and then sadness filled his eyes.

"Of course you don't know. You can't tell that it's me." He said with a sad smile. "You wouldn't believe me, but you have to." He held his breath and let them out quietly. In the distance the light blared and sound of alarm has erupted off in the distance, piercing the silent forest.

"I'm Ari." He mumbled. Max stared at him in disbelief and shook her head, trying to clear her thought of jumbling questions. "Is this a sick joke?" She shouted. The teen desperately put finger on his mouth, signaling for silence.

"Calm down!"

"How can I be calm? Ari is dead!"

"I know, I'm dead. Well, I was dead." He tried to think. "Let me prove that I am Ari. This is something only you and I know." Max looked at him with bewilderment as he beckoned her to come closer and he whispered the secret into her ear. Quickly, Max pulled her head back with anger flashing across her face and then into a horror.

"How are you alive?" She asked quietly. Ari shrugged. "This is a dream." She muttered to herself. But Ari heard her.

"It's not a dream for me." He said through tensed teeth. Out of blue, he groaned in pain and his hand trembled while clutching his head. His crouching feet has gone numb but he felt the pounding pain starting from his head and traveling slowly down to every corner of his body. He fell forward and Max attempted to catch him, but she fazed right through him and Ari hit the ground with a thump.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Do I look okay?" He stuttered. "I need-your help" He gasped in between the pain, twitching and turning in pain. "Just find me. Please" He begged and then he clutched his mouth closed to swallow his half scream of pain while his eyes turned to the sky, unfocused. The guard close by heard a muffled scream and pointed the flashlight toward a bush, light puncturing the darkness and casting thick long shadows on the ground. Soon they both heard barking of the dog beside their ears and rustling of boots brushing the leaves.

"Over here! I found him. He is over here!" The guard shouted, pointing the bright light directly at shivering form of Ari and holding the growling hunting dog at bay. Ari looked at Max for the last time. Please, help, his eyes begged as they closed shut for the first time. Max reached out to help him with a cry up in her throat- and opened her eyes to Angel staring down at her.

"Did you have a nightmare?" She innocently asked. Disoriented, Max leaned her head against the bed railing. With uncertainty in her voice, she answered. "I'm not sure if it was a dream, nightmare or reality."


	2. Chapter 2

The house erupted in chaos when Max told them about her dream with Angel goggling at her as she read her mind and Gazzy, Iggy, Fang and Nudge staring at her frozen before they talked over each other in discord.

Good thing that Jeb, my mom and Ella is out Max thought. Jeb was out to discuss diplomatic issue of the flocks with Dr. Martinez while Ella was already in school. The flocks remained to stay home and watch the house and enjoying a small break.

"So, you are trying to say," Nudge hesitated and in the midst of the sentence, Iggy interrupted. "That Ari is alive?"

"Finally Max is officially insane." Gazzy joked but all he got was a silence and a glare from Max.

"How is he alive? We buried him!" Nudge exclaimed. "He died in front of your eyes Max." Max shut her eyes and rubbed her temple. She felt onset of headache coming.

"I know that. But the dream, what I saw-it felt way too real." Max glanced at Angel, "You believe me right? Just read my mind!"

Angel paused, trying to figure out the chaotic situation. "I can read your mind, but not your dream. But you do believe Ari is alive." She continued, "but that doesn't mean that he is actually alive."

Fang stood up straight and walked over to Max. "Max, Ari is dead. Let it go." He quietly and put his hand on her shoulder, putting out the ultimatum. But Max frowned and swatted his hand away.

"I'm not crazy. Maybe it's a new talent I have!" Max shouted but the three sitting at the couch while eating morning breakfast, Izzy cooking pancakes and Fang standing next to her all stared at her with doubts. Only Total sat at the dining table, happily munching on the pancakes.

"How about you guys go visit his grave?" Total suggested while licking his mouth to clean off the remainder crumbs and maple syrup. "If what Max says is true, they probably took his body. If not, his body will still be there."

"What would they need the body for?" Iggy asked.

"How do I know? I'm not a mad scientist." Total paused. "But I'm sure all horror movie suggest a body is needed to bring the person back to life! It's either that, or to use their DNA." He chuckled and with his stomach full, he jumped to the ground and laid down on the mat to snooze.

Max looked at Fang and Fang looked at the rest of the flock.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt." Angel said. Beside her, Nudge scowled and crossed her arm while Iggy and Gazzy looked at each other and nodded in agreement; they were all not too thrilled to see Ari's dead body again but if it was disproving Max's delusion, they would take it. Fang sighed and turned to Max.

"Lead the way."

Meanwhile, Ari sat in a white room in dazed. When was the last time that he saw a real person? He was losing sense of reality and time. He has occasionally seen and felt shadows hanging in the ceiling, dripping down to make a puddle and when he blinked, it disappeared. If he wasn't seeing strange apparitions, he was having a pounding headache instead. He didn't know if he was going crazy, but seeing the black shadow was not being normal on his list. But then again, he was anything normal.

His eyes were heavy and drooping but he shook his head and force them to remain open. He knew there were people watching him closely, inspecting his every move behind the wide rectangular mirror which he assumed was a two-way mirror glass. He didn't want to give them the satisfaction that they beaten him to their submission.

He rolled his eyes to left to where he left the meal. It has been sitting there in the corner for days now. He didn't touch it ever since he realized it was drugged. But they had other ways to drug his mind he thought in haze and he glance at his thin shackled bruised arms and legs with needle puncture marks. Maybe he should have just eaten the meal after all, just play along, gather enough strength and escape once again.

He felt another wave of urge to laugh but he swallowed it bitterly. He wasn't going to go crazy here and he hoped desperately that Max will come save him. But at the same time, he felt unending despair in the corner of his mind with hint of madness. Was him escaping a dream or was it real? Did he really see Max? How was she there? Would his father be happy to see him? And finally, how did they bring him back to life? He should have been dead. He wished he was dead. Or was he glad he gotten a second chance at life? After all, he only did live till seven years old.

He thought about these continuously but with no answers no matter how many times he asked the doctors and scientists, he simply stopped asking and only mused inside of his head. It wasn't the priority and what he needed to do, was to survive as indicated by increasing sound his stomach growling.

Two guard as if on cue, opened the metal door came in carefully and switched out the meals. One of the guard wear a disgusted face while the other one kept his blank as they dropped the meal in front of Ari. After they switched the meal, they slowly walked backward while facing forward to not be taken off guard again. They slowly closed the door and he heard multiple bolts being locked echo into the room.

Ari looked at the meal in his fogged mind. He saw a grilled cheese sandwich, a warm tomato soup, some salad and fruits accompanied with bottle of water. They sure don't want me to die of starvation he thought and grinned. He hastily reached for the grilled cheese sandwich. He quickly gobbled them up and in 5 minute, only scraps with empty water bottle remained. He licked his lip and he was becoming groggily and sleepy. However, this time, he let himself be drifted away. He needed to save his strength to escape again. But, a voice whispered to him sarcastically as he was drifting, you already blew your chances ever since your first attempt.


	3. Chapter 3

The flocks gathered around the court yard of cemetery where they buried Ari and threw the bag filled shovel down. It landed with a thump and they all stared at the grave in heavy silence. But Max grabbed one of the shovel and began digging and soon, the rest of the flock followed the action.

It wasn't long when they hit the wooden board and lifted the coffin. Right away, the rest of the flock could feel something was wrong. The coffin was too light. There doubts were confirmed when Iggy gasped with his eyes wide.

"He's not in here."

Max throw opened the coffin and then collapsed to the ground and Nudge fell beside her in shock. Ari's body was gone and what remained was only empty coffin.

"They must have been pros. They didn't disturb the grave so from the outside it would look normal." Fang whispered. "It looked exactly as we have left it."

"So Ari is alive." Gazzy said with mix of awe and disgust.

"They should have left him dead." Angel mumbled. Others looked at her. "He looked peaceful." She shrugged.

"It is an unnatural phenomenon. Bringing the dead back to life. It's uncanny." Iggy pointed out. "There must have been some side effect." Suddenly Max remembered in her dream, if she could call it that, Ari holding his head as if he was in pain and trembling.

"I think there were couple." Max said with uncertainty. But she shook herself and got up, lifting Nudge up with her. "That's not really important though. We have to find him."

She stretched her wings, ready to leave and fly through the clouds. "Let's go back. We can plan there."

"Do we tell Jeb and others?" Nudge asked. Max turned back.

"Definitely not." She firmly said. Then she softened her voice. "Not yet anyway."

Ari woke up in another room. He imagined himself being magically teleported instead of being drugged and then carried but the fantasy always was beaten by reality. He groaned as he shifted his body but found that he couldn't move. Surprise, surprise he thought. He was laying down on a bed that stood upright with leather bounds across his body. He also wore a strait jacket that was made out cotton and polyester straps.

He looked around pretending to be bored and found it to be a simple white room, but smaller compare to his other room and filled with gadgets, vials and machines on top of large table. Off in the right corner high on the ceiling was a camera, recording.

The door to the left slide open and a woman who looked familiar came in.

"Hello, Ari. How are you doing?" The woman asked. Ari looked at her confused. It was the same woman whom he mistakenly thought as Max. But unlike Max, she wore glasses.

"Do I-do I know you?" He stuttered. His tongue was still loose from the drug.

"I guess you don't remember. That's interesting. Do you only remember Max?" She said as she jotted down some note on her electronic note pad. Ari didn't reply and simply stared at her in silence. Why did she look so familiar? His head began to throb and the room swirled briefly.

"Do you know how you died?" She asked again but this time, she was holding a syringe. She slid the needle into his vein and Ari cringed, tensing his body. She extracted small amount of the blood and withdrew the needle. Tapping in slightly, she smiled with pride.

"I heard the dead get their memories confused. It's strange that applies to you." She mused in curiosity. She took the sample back to table while Ari tried to process her question.

He wondered. How did he die? He never asked such question. He was more concern by other worries but now, the question repeatedly re-surfaced in his head over and over again accompanied by flashes of image he couldn't comprehend.

"No, it's not true." He murmured quietly to himself while he trembled. The headache was back together with a small voice told him that he needed to get real and stop denying the truth.

"What did you-?" She paused. "Your nose is bleeding. It must have been the drugs. Must tell them to minimize the dosages." She shook her head in disapproval and wiped the blood away with a tissue in her pocket.

Ari looked up and in the left corner he saw a shadow. He continued to stare at the shadow intently until the shadow slowly took shape of Max and couple kids behind her. He could only recognize Max's face because other kids' faces were blurry. Max slowly approached Ari but Ari became rigid in fear. Max was slowly melting in red pile of blood and the rest of the kids also began to melt, horror drawn on their face.

"Get away from me!" Ari yelled. The woman turned around, surprise by a sudden shouting and saw that Ari was staring not at her, but at an empty air.

From the red pile, Ari saw a twin standing up and smiling. They pointed to the head set machine and then slashed their thumb on their neck, indicating their death. Then, they disappeared in smoke.


	4. Chapter 4

Standing still, the woman considered to delay the tests and experiment for "Subject 001" due to his erratic behaviour and specimen's condition. She turned to the camera and gave it the x gesture with her hand. But the camera did not turn off and the red light relentlessly stayed on.

The woman sighed and went to the table and picked up the head set. Then she came back and propped the head set on to Ari's head and smiled.

"I wish you didn't do your experiment today with your condition, but they insist." She said as she gestured to the camera. "Otherwise, they would fire me. And I do so love my job." She said while her eyes glinted. Ari blinked at her in silence.

"This might hurt a bit." She turned the machine on and the machine thrummed with life.

"But we need to control you again. This is the only way by brainwashing you." She

reasoned calmly.

"What-" Ari opened his mouth to after he gained his voice but quickly the woman stuffed his mouth with a small cotton towel.

"By the way, I never introduced myself." The woman said. "My name is Marian Janssen.

But you might remember me as the director." Marian smiled and pressed a small button.

The head set hummed with energy and Ari screamed.

"Now what do we do?" Gazzy asked as he munched on the chips on the kitchen table while others gathered around him. Angel brushed away the crumbs that spilled on her cloth, narrowing her eyes at her brother. Gazzy shrugged and gave Total a chip beside him. Total happily accepted.

"I remember in the vision," Max was calling it a vision now, "that it was an highly guarded research facility area with recent of heavy rain and thick forest that surrounds it."

Fang spoke up. "If that's true, they must have intent to be hidden from the world while still having resources to back it up. I say they are on an island."

"That narrows it down a bit." Nudge exclaimed.

"Yeah, but it's hopeless. There are too many places that fit the description." Iggy stated. "And not enough time. Based on what you said Max, I don't think Ari is stable and I assume they are experimenting on him."

"Is that really all you saw?" Angel asked Max and suddenly, Max recalled what she saw on a gate.

"Wait! I saw their logo on the gate!" Max said in excitement. She quickly grabbed a piece of paper and pen from Ellen's room and roughly sketched what the logo looked to be. "And now all we have to do is post this on Fang's website and wait for replies!"

They quickly scavenged for a camera and when they found one, they took a picture and uploaded on to the laptop. Within a minute a reply for the post popped. It was a logo for a multiple research facility situated in US called "Hector Owl Research Centre" or "H. Owl RC" for short. More replies came through and it showed multiple RC around US, but Max frowned. "None of them look like the one in my vision."

"Then it must be an illegal secret RC." Fang said.

"Why don't we enter one of the building and find out? They must share data and information with each other." Nudge implied.

"Then let's get going." Max said as she headed for the door.

Ari was numb and his throat was horse. He was back in his normal white room in chain staring at the empty meal and the empty bottle. He doesn't remember eating but he must have eaten another meal because his stomach wasn't complaining.

He looked at the ceiling. He was no longer drugged, but he wished he was.

He remembered everything.

Who he was, what he did, why he did it and why he died. He glared at the mirror, not to himself, but those monsters behind the mirror. They took the half of blame while the other half, is on himself.

He was strangely calm despite the treatment he has been receiving. He has been brought alive against his will, drugged, manhandled, electrocuted and treated like a lab rat. But, it wasn't so bad. He was used to it as he thought back to the past.

Who are you kidding? The voice muttered. There is no way this is okay.

Shut up, he told the voice.

The voice ignored him. Did you know, a lot of people died here. You know that already though, because you can see them.

Shut up, shut up.

You can see dead people. So what's to say that Max isn't dead already?

Ari began to hyperventilate. He gasped for each breath, but he felt like he was drowning.

The voice laughed manically.

You aren't real, Ari thought. You're just my imagination.

But he was met with silence and he fainted.


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright, we are in!" Nudge whispered with enthusiasm as she easily by-passed the password on the laptop in H. Owl RC.

They landed on the rooftop and broke in through the metal door. Soon, they were sneaking pass the guards and knocking out those who couldn't be avoided unconsciously. In the end, they found a room of the head director of research facility that held vital information on his laptop. They gently laid down the head director on the leather couch as Nudge cracked her fingers.

"Give me a couple seconds to browse through. I will let you know if I find anything." Nudge said.

"Alright." Max replied while Fang was on the lookout. Iggy and Gazzy looked around, scavenging for materials to build a bomb to cover their track or possible needed distraction. Angel stood sweetly beside Max with Total in her hands.

"Why did I have to come along?" Total scowled. He wanted to take more naps.

"You were getting heavier so we figured you needed an exercise." Angel giggled.

A moment later, Nudge waved them over. "I found it! I found it you guys!"

"Where is the place?" Fang asked.

Nudge smiled in triumph. "It's an island at the south of US. It's called a Willow Whistler Island."

Ari was standing up and all he saw was red paint on the white walls and on the floor, creating a puddle. But he eventually came to realize, the red paint wasn't a paint. It was blood as hinted by piles of corpses laid around him. The corpses wear guard uniforms, a lab coats and white gloves.

In his right hand, he held a gun and in his left hand he held a knife. He quickly dropped them on the floor and stood still in horror etched on his face reflected by broken mirror glass across from him. His ears were ringing either because of the gun or the alarm in the hallway echoing and flashing the same color of the blood. But beside the alarm and the huffing of his voice, all was eerie silent.

Finally, when all the tension drained away from his body, he fell on his knee and cried. His tears washed away his bloody hand and echoed down the halls. After he was done with tears, he crawled to the corner and threw-up. The smell of blood and the sound of alarm made his head spin so he closed his eyes, put his hands to his ears and ran out the unlocked door with all of his might.

The flocks were flying over head of the island over miles high up in the sky.

"This was the place I saw! Look! There is Ari!" Max said and she pointed. Then her eyes became wide in terror, "he is covered in blood!" Max shouted and dived toward the island. The rest of the flocks followed closely behind her.

"He looks a bit different." Gazzy said in puzzlement. Angel frowned. "I can't read his mind." The flocks looked at Angel, disturbed.

"He did come back from the dead. So I guess he isn't considered as alive. Maybe still half-dead?" Nudge indicated but Angel scowled, shaking her head in disagreement with Total dizzy in her arm.

When they landed near Ari, Ari was sitting with his arm cross his leg, gazing off into the sea at an edge of a cliff bay. He didn't take notice as they landed behind his back with hard thump.

"Ari?" Max asked in a hushed tone and approached him. As if breaking out of a spell, Ari snapped his neck toward the sound and slowly stood up.

"Stay back." Ari muttered but Max ignored him and continue to move toward him.

"I said, stay back! Don't come near me!" Ari shouted over the crashing wave and harsh wind whipping his red hair, halting Max's advance. Ari's eye looked tired, swollen and red with dried up tears. It made him look crazy and Ari knew that he was crazy. Ari shivered in the cold and started coughing but Max remained frozen.

Ari's whole body shook as he coughed but slowly, he settled down. He blinked his shadowed eyes twice and rubbed them for good measure. "Are you guys real?"

The flocks looked at each other for a moment and Iggy replied lamely. "Yeah." Ari stared at them for a long moment with untrustworthy eyes.

"I don't trust you." He said. "I must be seeing stuff again, aren't I?" Ari looked down at the cliff. "I should be dead." He whispered and he threw himself down the cliff. As quick as Max could, she lunged for him and dive down the cliff after him. In one swoop, she caught him in her arms and spread her wing, nearly missed hitting hard cold water. She noticed that he was light and safely arrive back on the ground with relieved others greeting her with a smile. Ari gazed at Max in half feverish daze.

"You are real." He said.

"Yeah, of course I am. Where are you bleeding from?" Max squinted and look at the blood soaked shirt, trying to find the source. But Ari shrugged her off and landed on his feet lightly. But his knees buckled and he found himself on the ground.

"They aren't my blood." Ari repeatedly mumbled until he passed out.


End file.
